Justice for the Forest-Beasts

Chapter Thirteen - In Which the Night is Young

The twins led Rain to the Drunken Bard's Tavern. It was a somewhat well-known tavern that was northeast of the castle, notorious for the bard that could be found there. His name was Marius Brierman, and he accepted tips in the form of coins, food, and alcohol. He was always found standing by the bar, playing a lyre, a wooden flute, or an ocarina. Supposedly, Marius only played in the tavern because he worked alongside its owner, Juno Fernsby. No wonder the whole tavern was named after him.

When the three entered the tavern, the twins were comforted by a familiar scent of booze and a charcoal grill. The tavern was a lot rowdier than the rest of the city, and that was exactly how it was meant to be. It was an escape from the prim and proper citylife, for those who wished to have one. The tavern had a rustic, country style, though it was filled with wealthy citizens, drinking and eating to their hearts' content. Seated on a barstool, Marius was playing his ocarina. Juno stood behind the counter, and they waved to the twins when they saw them and Rain enter.

"Hello, sires!" Juno said as they approached the bar, "It's been forever since I've seen you! How's life been treating you?"

"Not as great as I wish it would, to be completely honest," Estelle said, "We're going to take that table over there." She pointed at one of the tables towards the back of the tavern, where it wasn't quite as rowdy as the rest of the tavern.

"You got it," Juno said happily.

Estelle led Lucian and Rain over to their chosen table, and they all sat down. A waitress hurried over to their table, in order to give them each a menu. To start off, the waitress asked what the group wanted for drinks. The twins both ordered melomel, a type of mead that contained blackberries. Rain seemed unsure what to order, and xe hesitantly settled on asking for melomel as well.

When the waitress left to give the drink orders to Juno, Estelle leaned a bit closer to Rain and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, but I haven't thought until now to ask you if you know how to read. Do you?"

Rain shook xyr head, "Not really."

"No worries, no worries," Estelle said as she thought up a solution. Only one came to mind, and she did not like it. "Should I. . . read the menu aloud to you?"

Rain shrugged, "I guess so."

"Alright, just listen close and tell me when something strikes your fancy. I'll repeat things, but I will not be reading through the whole menu twice for you," Estelle said.

The process of reading every item aloud was a bit tedious, and Lucian had begun miming falling asleep only halfway through. When everything was finally settled and the waitress returned, they gave their orders: chicken curry with rice for Estelle, a meat pie for Lucian, and a roasted salmon for Rain. Lucian hardly ever ordered anything but the meat pie when the twins came by the tavern for dinner, and Estelle was sure Rain made xyr choice because salmon was something xe'd eat a lot in the hills.

The group was given their drinks by Juno themself, who placed the three glass mugs on the table and said, "Drink up, folks. Full-priced refills, in honor of Your Royal Highnesses' presence,"

"Actually, we'll be needing to start a tab," Estelle said.

"Well, shoot, alright. You got it, sire." Juno returned to the bar.

Estelle didn't hesitate to take a sip of her melomel, smiling softly at the familiar, sweet taste. She watched as Rain took a sip of xyr own melomel, trying xyr best to stifle a sour face afterwards.

Estelle chuckled, "Rain, if you don't like it, we can buy you something else."

"No need," Rain said, "Tastes good."

"Alright, if you say so," Estelle said, even though Rain was puckering and clicking xyr tongue against the roof of xyr mouth.

The group enjoyed idle chatter while they waited for their food, and they kept the conversation going after it arrived. At one point, Marius came over and plopped right down in the group's empty seat.

"Happy early birthday!" Marius told the twins happily. His speech was slurred and his clothes were wrinkled. His hair was pulled back loosely and uncaringly, with a few strands still sticking out. "I have the perfect song for the birthday spirit. Would Your Royal Highnesses like to hear it?" he asked.

"We'd love to," Estelle said, smiling. Lucian eagerly nodded in agreement. He loved music, and he seemed to adore Marius's music more than anyone else's.

Marius played a short song on his ocarina. It was a happy one, and it was also considerably simple. Marius tapped his foot along to the music, though Estelle knew it wasn't to help him keep the song's rhythm. Marius didn't need such things. Afterwards, Marius told the twins, "I call it 'Old Enough to Drink.' A fitting name, I would like to think."

Estelle chuckled, "It was beautiful. Very jolly. If we had money on us, I'd give you a tip, but I'm afraid we've got nothing on us at the moment."

"That's okay, I've been here all day. Others have given me plenty of good pay," Marius said as he stood up and returned to his spot by the bar. He played his ocarina happily as he walked.

The group finished eating, before saying their goodbyes to Juno and Marius and returning to their hut by the lake. There, they dipped their hands in the water and attempted to skip stones across its surface. Lucian had never been good at skipping stones, but Estelle and Rain could both do it well. Rain explained to the twins that there was a pond near xyr village.

When the three became tired, they slept on the floor of their hut, in the cold, hard dirt. They had no blankets, but Rain curled up close to Estelle and extended one of xyr wings over the twins. Estelle found it odd, but she thought it was a comforting gesture. The forest scared Estelle—especially when it was so dark out—but she felt somewhat safe, in the cover of her hut and Rain's right wing. Estelle knew that, if anything found the hut and tried attacking either of the twins, Rain would certainly protect them, and xe'd be an amazing fighter from xyr experience up north.

When the sun arose, Rain rose with it. There was a while before the twins woke up, greeted by a small breakfast that Estelle could only assume that Rain had foraged. Lying on the ground, on top of one of xyr molted feathers, there was a small pile of various berries and nuts. Rain wasn't in the hut, and xe instead sat by the lake, drawing something in the wet, gravelly sand with a stick.

The twins split the nuts and berries evenly, and Estelle tucked the feather behind her ear, before they went out to join Rain by the lake.

"Thank you for gathering us breakfast," Estelle said.

"Of course," Rain said, "I was hungry. I thought, you will sleep longer. I get food."

The three sat in silence by the lake for a moment. The twins both found that it was unusually peaceful. The lake's waves were rather gentle, and it was too far into autumn for there to be many birds singing.

Eventually, Estelle told the group, "We should return to the castle. The Queen will have our heads if we aren't back soon."

"What about Rain?" Lucian signed.

"Do you think we could drop xem off at Petra's house for now?" Estelle asked hesitantly, "Maybe... maybe she'll be willing to hide xem. And at Petra's house, xe'd have a proper roof over xyr head and food in xyr stomach."

Lucian shrugged, "We'll find out."

Estelle turned to Rain, "Are you okay with that?" she said, "Be honest."

Rain thought for a short moment before xe decided, "Yeah, I am okay with that."

"You're sure?"

"I am sure." Rain nodded.

"Alright, let's go." Estelle stood up, quickly followed by Lucian and Rain. "We'll have to see if it's okay with Petra, first and foremost," she said as she led them back through the woods, towards the city. Petra and her mothers lived in a big house, barely a five minute walk from the castle. Estelle was sure that none of them would mind Rain hiding in their house for the afternoon, as Colette was very open to accepting anyone into her home, and Lorelei likely would have more important things to worry about.